Latest Ethiopian News - Ethiopian Economy Business

November 4, 2017 - Habesha Cement factory which suspended operation due to instability has resumed production, reported the Ethiopian English weekly newspaper Reporter. Habesh suspended production on October 24 after young protesters, who demanded permanent jobs, occupied the factory. The youngsters demanded permanent jobs or to be put on the company’s pay roll. The management of the company decided to shut down the cement manufacturing plant due to the protest. The Oromia Police has intervened to calm down the youth.

Following the protest, the executive management team of Habesha Cement, Woreda an

October 18, 2017 - The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), being built on the Nile, will start generating hydroelectric power in the current fiscal year, reports Ethiopian news agency. “The remaining 38 percent of the construction will be done while the dam is generating hydroelectric power", Debretsion Gebremichael, Board Chairman of the National Council for the Coordination of Public Participation for the Construction of GERD, said as quoted by the Ethiopian news agency.

The construction of the dam, which will be the largest in the continent and among the top ten in the world in terms of generating capacity, has reached 62

October 12, 2017 - The Ethiopian government announced plans to raise 1.5 billion Birr in the current Ethiopian fiscal year for the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), reports Ethiopian News agency. .

The Office of the National Council for the Coordination of Public Participation on the Construction of the Dam announced the plan on Tuesday at a consultation forum being held in Addis Ababa.

The Office planed to realize the target by further strengthening wider public participation, implementing various fundraising mechanisms including lotteries, music concerts, arts and photo exhibitions, among others.

September 3, 2017 - Ethiopia unveiled a National Financial Inclusion Strategy that envisions providing universal access through innovative and convenient channels by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE). Despite the significant expansion of the financial sector in Ethiopia, only 22 percent of adult Ethiopians have account in regulated financial institutions, as compared to 34 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa. The strategy plans to give access to 60 percent adults by 2020, reports Ethiopian news agency.

National Bank of Ethiopia Governor, Teklewold Atnafu attributed the low performance in the sector to lack of finance and related infrastructures, community

September 23, 2017 - The Chinese embassy in Addis Ababa called an unprecedented meeting with all Chinese companies operating in Ethiopia last week, following repeated events such as labor issues and accusations involving Chinese companies working in the country. The Chinese embassy in Ethiopia confirmed such a communication had taken place but refused to go into details.

However, according to sources, the embassy went further and warned some of the companies regarding the consequences of their actions in the country.

Sources also confirmed that recent incidents involving the China State Construction Engineering Corpor

September 9, 2017 - Ethiopia’s flag carrier and Africa’s fastest growing airline, Ethiopian Airlines, is going to take delivery of the first of the four Boeing B787-9 aircraft next month. Africa’s largest airline, Ethiopian, was the first in Africa and only the second in the world next to Japan to acquire and operate B787-8 mid-size twin engine aircraft in 2012.

In 2015, Ethiopian placed firm orders for four B787-9 aircraft, an extended version of B787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. Today the airline operates 19 B787-8 aircraft. Sources told The Reporter that Ethiopian will take delivery of the first B787-9 direct from Boeing in October 2017.

August 27, 2017 - Chinese Maxtor International Financial Services inked a memorandum of understanding with Ethiopia’s Amhara Regional State to build a Special Economic Zone in Bahr Dar city. The company’s officials stated that Maxtor chose its investment in Ethiopia after conducting comprehensive business and economic feasibility studies among various African countries.

During the signing ceremony it was announced that the new project was unique for being the first of its kind to have come to Ethiopia. It was also noted that the new project is expected to lie by the side of Lake Tana, Africa’s second largest lake. Similarly,

August 23, 2017 - The Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) is to going to rehabilitate and upgrade electric power distribution lines in six Ethiopia towns. The rehabilitation will be undertaken with 1.7 billion Br financing from the World Bank's (WB) International Development Association (IDA) and the Ethiopian government coffer.

Adigrat, Debre Marqos, Gondor, Shashamane, Wolaita Sodo and Harar towns are the beneficiaries of this rehabilitation program. Out of the total amount, IDA will cover 1.4 billion Br. The project is expected to avoid the recurrent blackouts in these Ethiopian towns.

August 19, 2017 - Ethiopian Transport Authority disclosed that Ethiopia imported a total of 117,032 vehicles in the just concluded fiscal year. Commenting on the development, Ethiopian Transport Authority Public Relation Head, Yigzaw Dagne, said the number might be higher as there might be cars in different states of Ethiopia that are not registered within the national database.

According to Yigzaw the number of cars being imported to Ethiopia has been increasing every year. Following last year’s vehicles import, the number of cars in Ethiopia increased to 825,448 from 708,416, he explained.

August 13, 2017 - The much delayed two billion dollars Ethiopian geothermal development project, Corbetti Geothermal, near Shashemene town is finally to take off the ground. Corbetti Geothermal, a multi-national energy company that has been working to develop 500 MW of electric power from geothermal sources in the Corbetti Caldera in East Arsi Zone, and the Ethiopian government have resolved their differences on the implementation of the project through negotiations to resurrect the pending project. Corbetti Geothermal, the Ethiopian Ministry of Water, Irrigation (MoWIE) and Electricity and the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation are fina

August 12, 2017 - According to a new study by KEW and Environment and Coffee Forest Forum (ECFF), titled Coffee Farming and Climate Change in Ethiopia, Arabica Coffee, one of the highest quality coffees in the world, might be absolutely extinct by the end of this century. The report states that, unless immediate actions are taken to reverse the current trend of climate change, Ethiopia is on the verge of losing its status as one of the top five countries in the world

July 19, 2017 - Ethiopian Minster of Finance and Economic Cooperation, Abraham Teksete (PhD), announced the country’s plan to offer shares to private investors in its road-building and maintenance projects

The move by the Ethiopian government has been considered by many as a latest step to open up and modernise the state-led economy.

"We do not have private-run roads. Through public-private partnerships, the private sector is interested to develop roads through this arrangement," Ethiopian Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation Abraham Tekeste, quoted by Reuters, as saying.

July 12, 2017 - Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Development and Marketing Authority announced that the country has accomplished 92 per cent of its set goal to increase coffee exports. According to officials at the authority, Ethiopia earned 866 million USD exporting 221,000 tons of coffee during its last fiscal year. Comparing to Ethiopia’s coffee export volumes of 2015/16, there had been 11.5 Per cent growth in the coffee exports during the just concluded fiscal year 2016-17. Plus, the foreign earning from coffee has raised by 20 percent due to the global coffee price hikes.

June 29, 2017 - Ethiopia, World Bank agreed on a new five-year partnership to build on development gains achieved over the past decade and boost institutional accountability.

The renewed partnership stresses sustainable and inclusive growth, placing a focus on education, increased access to markets and job creation for young people.Improved governance and social accountability to help tackle corruption make up another important plank of the agreement.

“The Country Partnership Framework intensifies our support for poverty reduction in Ethiopia and seeks to address key challenges facing the country,” said Carolyn Turk,

June 26, 2017 - The Addis Ababa City Administration will be looking for loans from international financial institutions for the development of a mega tourist destination at Mount Entoto in the northern part of the city at a cost of 4.8 billion birr.

The city administration is planning to build a vast tourist recreation center on 4,200 hectares plot in the Entoto forest. At the third general assembly of the Addis Ababa City Tourism Transformation Council held on Tuesday at Getfam Hotel Heyab Gebreamelak (PhD), director of the Entoto Tourist Destination Development Project, said that the huge project has four major packages – recreation center

March 22, 2017 - Ethiopian Tourism Transformation Council began it 4th regular meeting today. At the event, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, chair of the Council, introduced the Amharic version of the new tourism brand ‘Ethiopia, Land of Origins’ as ‘Midre Kedemt.’

Despite the huge tourism potential, Ethiopia’s is not benefiting more from the sector, said the Premier.

Works have been carried out to remove major impediments of the tourism industry by establishing Tourism Transformation Council, he added.

The Premier further said all stakeholders, including federal and regional state

Addis Ababa City Administration said today that it has introduced a coupon retailing method at Ethiopian Consumers Association branch shops to ensure a fair distribution of basic goods among the city residents, according to Walta.

Following the government salary adjustment made to public servants recently, the private shops across the city have exponentially raised the price tags of consumer goods such as edible oil, sugar and fruits.

The Bureau’s intent to introduce a coupon transaction to make sure that subsidized consumer goods reached to the residents and to avoid ways that these goods channeled to private business, w

February 25, 2017 - Following generator upgrades, the installed hydropower generation capacity of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has been increased to 6,450MW, according to FBC.

Initially, the dam was designed to generate 5,250MW. However, due to the upgrades made to the power plant, its generation capacity was raised to 6,000 MW. Six years later, the total installed generation capacity of the dam has been increased by additional 450MW as a result of the improvement made on generators to boost the capacity of the power plant.

Following the upgrading made twice, the electricity generation capacity of the dam has b

February 10, 2017 - Ethiopia generated revenues of more than 1.6 billion US dollars from tourism in the first half of this Ethiopian budget year (2016/17), according to ENA report.

A total of 439, 359 foreign tourists visited the country in the reported period, Gezahegn Abate, Public and International Relations Director at Ministry of Culture and Tourism told ENA.

The number of visitors in this first half decreased by 39, 531 tourists, while the revenues declined by 145 million US dollars compared to same period last fiscal year due to the unrest occurred in some parts of the country, he said.

January 30, 2017 - The Ministry of Industry (MoI) reported to parliament that exports of manufactured products only performed half as well as expected over the last six months of the 2016/17 budget year, according to Capital. The nation earned USD 198.5 million in export revenues which is 56.5 percent of Ethiopia’s goal of USD 349 million. Non major export products rose 3.9 percent.

Manufacturing has been expected to be a staple of Ethiopia’s resurgence. Textile and leather products along with agro processed products like meat and dairy are major areas, along with import substitutio